10 Best Things to Do in Chattanooga

The Hunter Museum of American Art is a fine arts museum situated on a bluff that offers panoramic views of the city and features many genres of historic art. Most of the collection is focused on the Hudson River School of artwork, but other genres are represented, including modernism and American impressionism.

The museum is housed in a historic mansion that was erected in 1904 in the Classical Revival style. The collection represents art from the Colonial period to today. It's located in the Bluff View Art District of the city, just a few minutes from the center of downtown.

The Rock City Gardens on Lookout Mountain include massive rock formations dating to the paleolithic times with over 400 native plant species and panoramic views of 7 states. The Enchanted Trail that leads you to Rock City not only showcases natural wonders and beauty, but the magical kingdoms of Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village are sure to thrill the kids.

The attraction also includes a gift shop and a restaurant, the Big Rock Grill, where you can enjoy a great meal. This attraction is located just 6 miles from the heart of downtown Chattanooga.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo is a historic hotel and entertainment complex located in the old Terminal Station with exciting activities to thrill the entire family. Many of the hotel rooms are themed after authentic Victorian train cars.

The restaurants on-site offer fine dining and quick food, while the bar offers craft beer, frozen drinks, wine, and cocktails. Just a few steps away, you can explore Station Street with its iconic and storied history of music and nightlife with live entertainment nightly.

Coolidge Park is a popular waterfront park offering views of the Tennessee River and wide-open spaces as well as one of the largest pedestrian bridges in the world. The park is part of the Tennessee Riverwalk area that spans 15 miles of green space along the Tennessee River from the Chickamauga Dam to the Southern Belle Riverboat.

The park is on the north shore of downtown on River Street. Among the most popular attractions in the park is the historic, century-old carousel with horses, lions, tigers, and other animals, both realistic and fantastic. The park also features a rock climbing area and a water fountain for the kids to escape the heat.

The Chattanooga Market is an open-air public market featuring fresh food and locally made arts and crafts held every Sunday from April to December. This is among the largest public markets of its kind, run exclusively by producers, and features over 300 different vendors and as many as 6,000 visitors on any given weekend.

The market is famed for events like the annual Oktoberfest and Holiday Market, celebrity chef competitions, and live music performances. It's a vibrant cultural hub of Chattanooga located in the First Tennessee Pavilion downtown on Carter Street.

The Tennessee Aquarium is popular among families and offers up-close experiences with marine life with over 320 species of fish on display. On a visit here, you can see giant freshwater stingrays, electric jellyfish, playful and adorable otters, and catfish that are quite literally the size of a Volkswagen.

The aquarium is also massive, encompassing 2 different buildings that allow you to follow the way water flows from the mountains to the sea and see some of the most amazing and odd creatures you'll experience. The aquarium is located downtown just south of the Tennessee River.

The Southern Belle Riverboat allows visitors to see the city from the waters aboard the boat known as the Pride of the South with food and narrated cruises. The Southern Belle offers daily cruises that take about an hour and a half and offer full lunch as you cruise the river and learn all about local history while viewing the scenery.

In addition, pilot house tours, sunset tours, and dinner cruises are also available, each offering its own unique luxurious experience, with some including food, music, and dancing. Private events are also available for booking. The main dock is located downtown along the Tennessee River.

Raccoon Mountain Caverns offers over 5.5 miles of passageways for a subterranean spelunking adventure with guided tours and cave expeditions. You can opt for the 45-minute Crystal Palace Tour to see the highlights of the cave complex.

Another fun experience is a cave expedition that delves deeply into the caves and may include such highlights as sitting by a campfire, riding go-karts, panning for gemstones, and emerging from the caves to discover a stunning panoramic view of the Raccoon Mountains from the nearby lookout. The cave complex is a 12-minute drive to the west of the city along route 24W.

Lookout Mountain offers several exciting attractions, from the Ruby Falls cave waterfall to the Lookout Mountain Tower, and thousands come to experience this ridge every year. The Ruby Falls waterfall is located in one of the deepest cave complexes in the country and is one of the largest underground waterfalls, tumbling 140 feet into the vast cave complex.

The Lookout Mountain Tower, meanwhile, offers a sweeping panoramic view of the entire region showing off the magnificent natural beauty of the Chattanooga Valley.